The King’s College London Symphony Orchestra is the flagship ensemble of the Music Department at KCL, and over the past 15 years it has grown both in size and stature to make its mark on the capital’s music scene, emerging as one of the best student-led orchestras in the UK and attracting members from a variety of institutions across London as well as King’s College London itself. Based in the heart of Central London, on the famous street that is The Strand, the opportunity to perform in a variety of the capital’s historic and beautiful venues and make music alongside extremely talented student musicians has continued to inspire our members.

 

KCLSO has flourished under the batons of renowned conductors since its founding. Beginning with Toby Purser (Principal Conductor, Orion Orchestra) the role of musical director then passed on to Robert Tuohy (Assistant Conductor, Orchestre National de Montpellier), Daniel Cohen (Principal Conductor, Jersey Chamber Orchestra) and then to Dominic Grier (Guest Conductor, The Royal Ballet and Opéra National de Lyon). In 2024, KCLSO was delighted to welcome the incredibly talented Daniel Hogan (Guest Conductor, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra) as musical director, who continues to lead the orchestra to new levels of success.

 

In the 2019-2020 season, KCLSO welcomed Christopher Quentin McMullen-Laird as our new musical director and conductor, beginning the season with Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5. Christopher guest-conducted KCLSO on tour to France in 2019, and he quickly demonstrated a level of expertise and commitment that doesn't come around too often. In June of 2020, Christopher sadly passed away after complications following surgery. Not only did the world lose an amazing musician, but KCLSO lost a treasured friend who was one of the purest souls one would ever have the blessing to meet. We are a better ensemble, and are better people for having known Christopher. Our thoughts, prayers, and love go out to Chris's husband, Sindre, and the McMullen-Laird Family. Please visit his memorial page, set up by his family, linked in our "In Memoriam" section.

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Not only does KCLSO perform in our home city of London, but we also represent our university and the best of student music-making abroad on our international tours. Past destinations include Spain, France, Germany and Italy, where we have been met with great hospitality, enthusiasm (and standing ovations). Our most recent tour to Belgium was a great success with our Assistant Conductor Ed Gertler, and we are looking forward to our next summer adventure! (Read more about our tours in the Tour section)

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Under the baton of Daniel Hogan, our 2025-26 concerts featured sold-out performances of Rachmaninoff's Symphony No. 2 in the Winter Concert and Shostakovich's Symphony No. 5 in the Spring Concert. Our 2025-26 Assistant Conductor, Sofia Grigoriadou, conducted an enchanting and highly-applauded performance of Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, as well as the premiere of A Moment Before, a composition by the incredibly talented member Joe Mathawaphan.

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As well as providing valuable and varied orchestral experience, KCLSO holds an annual concerto competition. This gives some of our extremely gifted members, along with members of the King’s music department, the opportunity to showcase their talent alongside the orchestra. Our 2025-26 season welcomed Yuxin Wu to play Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor, and Michael Xu to perform Rachmaninoff's majestic Piano Concerto No.2.

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As an orchestra, we pride ourselves on our work with young, emerging conductors. KCLSO offers the opportunity of an Assistant Conductor position to a KCL music student for a season, providing extremely valuable orchestral conducting experience with one-to-one coaching from our Musical Director. Previous Assistant Conductors have gone on to undertake postgraduate conducting studies at institutions including the Royal Academy of Music and Moscow State Tchaikovsky Conservatory. We also take part in masterclasses as part of an orchestral conducting course run by our lovely conductor Daniel, allowing several young conductors to gain their first experience leading a full-scale symphony orchestra.

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Make sure to look at the drop-down menu tabs for more information about our Musical Director, Committee and other KCLSO information.